Ukraine: The assertion was swiftly refuted by Kiev after Moscow claimed on Sunday that it had launched a catastrophic retaliation strike in eastern Ukraine to exact revenge for a recent deadly attack on its troops. According to a Russian Defence Ministry statement, a missile attack on troops stationed in two buildings used as barracks in Kramatorsk resulted in the deaths of around 600 Ukrainian service members.
Following Ukraine’s New Year’s Eve missile barrage on the eastern Ukrainian town of Makiivka, which Moscow claimed resulted in the deaths of 89 of its soldiers, Russia referred to the assault as a “retaliatory strike.” The Kramatorsk strike was not what Russia claimed, according to Ukraine’s armed forces.
Only that Russian intelligence had “during the previous 24 hours” found more than 1,300 Ukrainian soldiers in two buildings in Kramatorsk was said in the Russian statement, which did not specify when the strike had actually occurred. Russian missile assaults on the industrial city in the eastern Donetsk region have occurred often.
Russia acknowledged that 89 soldiers had died, the greatest single documented loss from a Ukrainian hit since the conflict started in February of last year. However, a statement from the Ukrainian military stated that more than 400 soldiers had perished.